White House on Louisiana shooting: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the family that has lost a loved one'

U.S. President Barack Obama is aware of the shooting of a black man by white police officers in Louisiana, a White House spokesman said on Wednesday (July 06), but cannot comment on the case due to a Department of Justice investigation.

The U.S. Justice Department said it will investigate the killing of a 37 year-old Alton Sterling, who was pinned to the ground and shot in the chest by police officers outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Captured on a bystander's video, the graphic images of the shooting of Sterling early Tuesday stirred a social media outcry over the latest case of alleged police brutality against African-Americans in cities from Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore and New York.

"The president is aware of this situation, I do not know whether or not he has watched the video," said White House Spokesman Josh Earnest.

Josh Earnest at the daily briefing on June 14, 2016. White House

"I'm just not going to be able to comment in a lot of detail on this situation given the fact that the Department of Justice has said that they're going to look at this situation. But obviously the president is aware of this and, regardless of what this investigation finds, there is a family in Baton Rouge and there is a community that is grieving now. And obviously our thoughts and prayers are with the family that has lost a loved one," he added.

Parts of the incident caught on a bystander's cell phone show an officer confronting Sterling in the parking lot of the Triple S Food Mart, and ordering him to get on the ground.

The brief video then shows two officers tackling Sterling to the pavement, with one pulling a gun from his holster and pointing it at his chest, then firing a shot.